More than 60 artistic directors of major theater companies from across the country has signed a letter denouncing the D.C. Jewish Community Center’s firing of Theater J artistic director Ari Roth “for blatantly political reasons."
The Washington DC Jewish Community Center, which runs the theater, did not give a reason for Roth’s firing other than to say it was not about Middle East politics. But Roth said he had been fired for insubordination after talking to the news media about the latest in a series of proposed productions that would have aired critical ideas about Israel. Roth has been the artistic director of Theater J for 18 years.
“It is absolutely clear that Roth was fired because of the content of the work he has so thoughtfully and ably championed for the last two decades,” the directors said in the letter, which was released to the media.
The signers include André Bishop of the Lincoln Center Theater, Oskar Eustis of the Public Theater, Martha Lavey of the Steppenwolf Theater Company, Emily Mann of the McCarter Theater and Bill Rauch of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Jennifer L. Nelson, an artist who was supposed to participate in Theater J’s season, has pulled out because of Roth’s firing. The highly regarded Washington director, who was to have staged Tanya Barfield’s The Call for the company later this season, said Monday, Dec. 29, that she could not in good conscience be part of it.
“For me, going forward with the production amounts to tacit approval of the decision to fire Ari for his commitment to civil civic dialogue,” Nelson said in an e-mail to The Washington Post. “Isn’t civic dialogue what theater is for?”
Roth is planning on starting his own theater and said he is not looking to be reinstated, but that he would be interested in collaborating with Theater J.
“There are many ways in which this can be rectified and we can get our principles back in order,” he said.
